3 weeks of sweetness

Two new flavors join Girl Scouts' cookie lineup

Yvette Dekeles was first in line at the Pembroke Pines parking lot, where 3,027 cases of Girl Scout cookies were waiting to be unloaded from a semi-tractor trailer.

"Trust me, I'm a Girl Scout leader, I have to drive a big truck," said Dekeles, of Hollywood, her cell phone in hand, ready to call for reinforcements in case 250 cases of cookies didn't fit in her Ford Expedition.

This year, 510 Broward County Girl Scout troops are selling cookies until Feb. 5. On Monday, cases of cookies arrived by the truckload at distribution sites across Broward.

Near Pembroke Lakes Mall, six workers from Beltman North American Van Lines formed an assembly line, unloading cases from a tractor trailer into the backs of SUVs and minivans, each with a mom behind the wheel.

"I have one troop who's renting a U-Haul," said Donna Goldstein, a Hollywood troop leader and cookie coordinator for 21 troops in south Broward.

"A truck, counting skills and lots of patience. That's what you need," joked Sonya Hess, of Hollywood, a cookie mom and mother of four, as she stood by the rear of her Ford Expedition and counted the boxes loaded inside.

"Luckily, I have a big house," Hess said before making the trip home. "The game room becomes the cookie room. I'm not sure anyone will be playing pool at my house for a while."

At $3.50 per box, there are eight cookie varieties, all with zero trans fat.

Thin Mints are the best seller. Sugar-free offerings have not sold well in past years, but the Scouts hope this year's Chocolate Chips will break that mold.

"In this day and age, we feel it's important for the Girl Scouts to have a sugar-free product, even if they don't sell as well," said spokeswoman Lori Ebinger-Sullivan of the Girl Scouts of Broward County. "They're trying to perfect the offering ... but it's hard to compete with a Thin Mint."

The Girl Scouts of the USA introduced the cookie sale in 1934.

In Broward, generations of Girl Scouts have sold cookies since 1947, starting with a mere 5,000 boxes countywide. Last year the Scouts sold 705,500 boxes.

Sixty-five cents of each box sale goes to the individual troop for activities and trips to places like Savannah, Ga., the birthplace of Girl Scout founder Juliette Gordon Lowe.

"This is the biggest fundraiser for the Girl Scouts," said Goldstein, whose teenage daughter has been a Scout since elementary school.

"It teaches the girls how to plan and save."

Kathleen Kernicky can be reached at kkernicky@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7907.

ONLINE

To watch a video report on the

Girl Scouts' cookie sale, go to Sun-Sentinel.com/cookies

INFORMATIONAL BOX:

Girl Scout cookies hit Broward

When: Sales continue until Feb. 5.

Where: Booths will be all over the county; to find one, go to www.girlscouts.org. (There are no online sales.)